Published August 25, 2025 04:39PM
Is a Trip to Burning Man Worth the Medical Debt?
Hundreds of festivalgoers are injured at Burning Man each year. To some, the medical bills can be astronomical.
Thousands injured at Burning Man every year. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/Getty Images
A broken back and ribs, a bruised spleen, and a punctured lung鈥擱achael Gingery鈥檚 list of injuries looked like the aftermath of a WWE wrestling match, not a trip to an art and culture festival inspired by such lofty ideals, self-described as 鈥渃ommunity, art, self-expression, and self-reliance.鈥 But that鈥檚 what she endured in 2024 during her eighth Burning Man festival.
On August 24, SFGATE published an in-depth look at injuries that people have sustained at Burning Man. And how these calamities often lead to massive medical bills.
The injuries鈥攚hich Gingery sustained after falling 20 feet off the top of an art installation, landing squarely on her back鈥攕aw her spend more than 16 hours in a medical tent. Despite a lengthy recovery, she returned to the event again this year without hesitation.
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鈥淚 appreciate that Burning Man is a little bit dangerous,鈥 she told SFGATE. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of what makes it exciting.鈥
Gingery鈥檚 case isn鈥檛 an anomaly. She was one of more than 1,500 people injured at the festival last year. Even more injuries were reported in (5,376) and again in (3,347) when the dry lakebed, 鈥渢he playa鈥 hosting the festival, flooded amid a torrential downpour, prompting a stranded 国产吃瓜黑料 contributor to defecate into a plastic bag (due to problems with the bathrooms).
This year鈥檚 festival, which began on Aug. 24, has already dealt with hazards. The day before kickoff, the playa was hit by a severe dust storm. Winds reached speeds of 52 miles per hour, flipping over tents and art installations, according to .
鈥淚t got us good. It got the city real good,鈥 one attendee . 鈥淭here are a couple of camps that got completely thrashed.鈥
Conditions have since improved, but at least four people were reportedly injured in the storm, and are now warning of heavy rain through part of the festival.
Burning Man champions self-reliance, and attendees are responsible for sourcing their own food, water, and shelter while on the playa. Multiple medical clinics are also scattered throughout the grounds to take care of injured or ill 鈥渂urners.鈥 And while some medical ailments, such as dehydration, sunburn, and heat stroke, are part and parcel to a nine-day outdoor festival taking place in the Nevada desert in late August, many Burning Man injuries are far more outlandish.
A woman 鈥攁 parade float-like vehicle鈥攁nd killed at the event in 2014. Another was killed in a similar accident in 2003. In 2017, a sleeping man was critically injured when a festival employee . That same year, a man hurled himself into the festival鈥檚 eponymous burning effigy and later died from his injuries.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know if it was intentional on his part or if it was just kind of induced by drugs,鈥 a local sheriff told . The following year, another man was seriously injured after falling off a stack of cars .
Festivalgoers are required to sign liability waivers to enter the festival, acknowledging responsibility for possible injury and death. But for some, the real damage doesn鈥檛 come to the body, but to the wallet.
One from 2024 looked to recoup losses from a $25,000 ambulance ride. to support a woman airlifted out of the festival after suffering second-degree burns during 鈥渁 freak accident involving a flaming drink at a bar.鈥 A third looked for to aid a woman who was 鈥渃atapulted from a swing鈥 and ended up with a fractured skull and vertebrae, a broken pelvis and ribs, a lacerated liver, and a punctured lung.
Gingery had no qualms about returning to the event after her fall in 2024, noting the event鈥檚 鈥渘o guardrails鈥 nature is part of the appeal.
鈥淚f you choose to engage in dangerous behavior out there, there are real consequences for those choices, and those consequences fall squarely on your own shoulders,鈥 Gingery said.
